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The Bahama woodstar (Calothorax evelinae): two males (left; lower right) with one female (top right). Illustration by John Gould, 1880.

Inaguan Lyretail: Scientists Unveil New Species of Hummingbird

Feb 18, 2015 by News Staff

According to a group of ornithologists led by Dr Christopher James Clark of the University of California, Riverside, the two subspecies of a hummingbird...

Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua) swimming underwater at Nagasaki Penguin Aquarium, Nagasaki, Japan. Image credit: Ken Funakoshi / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Penguins Lack Three Basic Tastes, Genetic Researchers Say

Feb 16, 2015 by News Staff

An international group of genetic scientists led by Prof Jianzhi Zhang from the University of Michigan has found that penguins lost three of the five basic...

Petrogale wilkinsi: New Species of Rock-Wallaby Discovered in Australia

Feb 13, 2015 by Natali Anderson

A new cryptic species of rock-wallaby has been described by a team of scientists led by Dr Sally Potter from the Australian Museum Research Institute and...

Flower of Sirdavidia solannona. Image credit: Thomas Couvreur.

New Genus of Flowering Plants Discovered in Gabon, Named after Sir David Attenborough

Feb 12, 2015 by News Staff

An international team of botanists led by Dr Thomas Couvreur from the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement in Montpellier has described a new genus...

German Shepherd puppy. Image credit: Marilyn Peddle / CC BY 2.0.

Dogs Can Tell Difference between Happy, Angry Human Faces

Feb 12, 2015 by News Staff

Dogs can discriminate human emotional expressions, according to a new study carried out by scientists at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna,...

A male crocodile gives a piggyback ride to his lifelong female partner. Image credit: Vladimir Dinets.

Crocodiles Love to Play Ball and Surf, Scientist Says

Feb 11, 2015 by News Staff

Crocodiles think surfing waves, playing ball and going on piggyback rides are fun, too, according to Prof Vladimir Dinets from the University of Tennessee,...

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Image credit: Pelican / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Chimpanzees Can Learn Each Other’s Grunts

Feb 6, 2015 by News Staff

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have special grunt calls for particular types of foods. By studying what happened after two separate clans of adult chimps...

The water frog Telmatobius ventriflavum. Image credit: Alessandro Catenazzi / CC-BY 4.0.

New Water Frog Species Discovered in Central Peru

Feb 5, 2015 by News Staff

Biologists from the United States and Peru have described a colorful new species of water frog from the Peruvian Andes. The water frog Telmatobius ventriflavum....

The Eastern emerald elysia (Elysia chlorotica). Image credit: Patrick Krug.

Eastern Emerald Elysia Steals Genes from Algae to Live Like Plant

Feb 5, 2015 by News Staff

A new study reported in the Biological Bulletin provides the first direct evidence that the chromosomes of a sea slug called the Eastern emerald elysia...

Northern bald ibises (Geronticus eremita) take turns saving energy by following in another bird's wake. Image credit: M Unsöld.

Northern Bald Ibises Take Turns When Flying in V-Shaped Formation

Feb 3, 2015 by News Staff

A group of ornithologists headed by Dr Bernhard Voelkl of Oxford University has found convincing evidence for ‘turn taking’ reciprocal cooperative...

Halfsider Northern Cardinal in Rock Island, IL. Image credit: Brian Peer / Robert Motz.

Northern Cardinal with Half-Male, Half-Female Plumage Spotted in Rock Island, Illinois

Jan 30, 2015 by News Staff

This Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) has female plumage on its right, and male plumage on its left, a condition known as bilateral gynandromorph. Halfsider...

The feather-legged lace weaver (Uloborus plumipes). Image credit: Olaf Leillinger / CC BY-SA 2.5.

Feather-Legged Lace Weaver Gives Unique Insights into How to Spin Nano-Fibers

Jan 29, 2015 by News Staff

The majority of spiders spin silk threads several micrometers thick, but the orb spider Uloborus plumipes can spin nano-scale filaments. The feather-legged...

Strix aluco, a species of the genus Strix closely related to the Hume’s tawny owl (Strix butleri) and the newly described Desert Tawny Owl (Strix hadorami). Image credit: Andreas Trepte, www.photo-natur.de / CC BY-SA 2.5.

Desert Tawny Owl: New Species of Bird Discovered

Jan 25, 2015 by Sergio Prostak

A group of ornithologists led by Dr Manuel Schweizer from the Natural History Museum of Bern in Switzerland has described a new cryptic species of owl...

Fish in an estuary beneath the Antarctic ice. Image credit: Deep-SCINI / UNL-Andrill / SMO.

Scientists Find Fish, Crustaceans under 740 Meters of Antarctic Ice

Jan 23, 2015 by News Staff

Researchers from the Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) project have uncovered a unique ecosystem of fish and invertebrates...

Design of multilayered genetic safeguards: riboregulation, engineered addiction, auxotrophy and supplemental repressors. Image credit: Ryan R. Gallagher et al.

Synthetic Biologists Make GMOs Safer

Jan 22, 2015 by News Staff

A team of synthetic biologists at Yale University has devised a way to ensure genetically modified organisms can be safely confined in the environment. Design...

The Geography cone snail (Conus geographus) attempting to capture fish prey; as the snails approach potential prey, they release a specialized insulin into the water, along with neurotoxins that inhibit sensory circuits, resulting in hypoglycemic, sensory-deprived fish that are easier to engulf with their large, distensible false mouths; once engulfed, powerful paralytic toxins are injected by the snail into each fish. Image credit: Jason Biggs / Baldomero Olivera.

Carnivorous Marine Snails Use Insulin to Disable Their Prey

Jan 20, 2015 by News Staff

Fish-hunting cone snails add a unique form of insulin to the venom cocktail they use to disable their fish prey, according to a new study. The Geography...

The newly discovered Inia araguaiaensis, in appearance, resembles the Amazon river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis), shown in this photo.

Top 20 New Species Discovered in 2014

Jan 18, 2015 by Natali Anderson

Sci-News.com compiles an annual list of the top 20 new species of animals, plants and insects found in the past twelve months. 1. Araguaian boto (Inia...

Bar-headed geese (Anser indicus) in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India. Image credit: J.M.Garg / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Study Reveals How Bar-Headed Geese Cope with Flying over Himalayas

Jan 16, 2015 by News Staff

Bar-headed geese (Anser indicus) perform a sort of roller coaster ride through the mountains, essentially tracking the underlying terrain even if this...

The marine defaunation experience is much less advanced, even though humans have been harvesting ocean wildlife for thousands of years; the recent industrialization of this harvest, however, initiated an era of intense marine wildlife declines. If left unmanaged, scientists predict that marine habitat alteration, along with climate change, will exacerbate marine defaunation. Image credit: Jenny Huang / CC BY 2.0.

Era of Intense Marine Wildlife Declines is Beginning, Scientists Say

Jan 16, 2015 by News Staff

A group of scientists led by Prof Douglas McCauley from the University of California, Santa Barbara, has found that the same patterns that led to the collapse...